Inside Politics

Easier info access would further food safety discussion

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:52:08 -0500

Researching my latest food-safety story (which you can read here) was revelatory, but an exercise in frustration.

To its credit, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is posting its recall information in a new and user-friendly format.

In researching the story about the increase of class 1 recalls since agency began posting them in November of 2009, I was able to download the entire table into MS Excel, do a bit of clean up, filter the product recall for the class 1 category, the most serious kind, and then count them for each year.

Because the agency only began posting the data in 2009 and we have yet to finish 2011, full year-to-year comparisons were impossible. Still, it was evident something was happening with the most serious recalls, given that the 2011 numbers had already eclipsed the 2010 figures with three months to go before the end of the year.

After much back and forth, and waiting, officials with the agency were able to check their own internal and more detailed numbers and confirm that my analysis was on track. That's the good part. But we only had about two years' worth of data. Meaningful trend analysis requires data for many years. Something the agency has, but chooses not to share unless someone is willing to make an access-to-information request. That's the bad part.

Court ruling found fault with medical marijuana law

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:06:30 -0500

Representatives from provincial and territorial ministries, medical associations, police forces, municipalities and users of medical marijuana have been invited to offer feedback on the federal medical marijuana access law before Ottawa introduces changes to the law. Health Canada is holding closed-door talks Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa.

Changes to the 2001 law, which established the Marihuana Medical Access Program, would revise the conditions under which individuals can smoke medicinal pot - but would keep doctors as the gatekeepers for approval of the drug for medical use.

As I reported on cbcnews.ca/politics today, the Canadian Medical Association is not pleased with that provision - and it has come under fire in the courts as well.

Here's a look at a court case, currently under appeal by the federal government, that sided with medicinal pot users who ran afoul of the law.

Information blackout in a post-9/11 world

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:54:31 -0500

Now that most of our troops are safely home from Afghanistan, specific questions now focus on what the men and women left behind will do? It's a query that comes into sharper focus on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

But if we thought that some Afghanistan-related matters fell into an information black hole during a mission in which 157 men and women in the Canadian Forces died, be prepared for a similar disconcerting state of affairs.

It's only natural to ask questions about what kind of training Canadian Force's personnel will be doing "behind the wire" in Kabul. But we might not receive many answers.

Tamiflu marketing exposes holes in drug regulatory regime

Tue, 24 May 2011 12:21:40 -0500

When fears about an avian flu and then an H1N1 pandemic struck in 2009, Canadians were understandably searching for ways to protect themselves. Enter Tamiflu, a drug that its maker, Hoffman La-Roche, and its advocates, claimed reduced complications and hospitalizations and prevented deaths.

The problem with those claims, according to critics that include the esteemed British Medical Journal, is that they aren't supported by scientific evidence.

And as the federal government and its provincial and territorial counterparts get ready to spend millions more to replace Canada's expiring stockpile of Tamiflu, now might be a good time to begin asking tough questions of the company, the individuals promoting the drug and Health Canada, which considers the drug to be of "modest" benefit.

Radio-Canada's Enquête, in a joint investigation with RSI (Swiss Italian Television) and National Public Radio in the United States, asked those questions last month in a documentary about Tamiflu. An English-Language version ran Monday on The National.

The Enquête report raised several issues that bear a closer look..... after the jump.

Will 'stable, majority government' allow a focus on policy?

Wed, 18 May 2011 22:08:19 -0500

Let's hope we can take the new government House leader at his word.

During an interview with CBC News Network shortly after the unveiling of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new cabinet Wednesday, Peter Van Loan, the new House leader, spoke in hopeful tones about the next four years.

"It's a very different environment now with a majority government," he said. "There's real opportunity to get a lot of work done and get our agenda through."

Then, unprompted, expressed hope there would be an end to "political games" and "perhaps a little more focus on thoughtful debate on issues."

Some thoughts on what those issues might be . . . after the jump.

SCOC says no: ministerial agendas off-limits

Fri, 13 May 2011 12:28:36 -0500

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that journalists, or anyone else for that matter, have no right to records such as personal agendas that reside in the offices of the Prime Minister and his or her cabinet ministers.

The news is good and bad.

Will a majority mean a more open government?

Tue, 10 May 2011 10:44:10 -0500

A new report by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) gives the government a failing grade for its lack of openness for the second year in a row. In fact, the Conservative government's marks have actually dropped to an F-minus.

"Unfortunately, the problem isn't isolated to the court system, or even to the province," the report notes. "Despite the promises laid out by the Access to Information Act, getting information out of any number of government bodies... is neither straightforward nor timely."

To reach this conclusion, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression collected information from a number of sources, including the Information Commissioner and journalists.

CJFE's Anne Game says her group has collected enough information to reach some disturbing conclusions that constitute "a warning" about the government's commitment to access to information.

Then why is she also sounding an optimistic note?

Read more after the jump....

Prescription drugs: How much you pay, depends on where you live

Fri, 06 May 2011 15:58:05 -0500

On the surface, the fact that prescription drug expenditures are increasing at a slower rate compared to previous years is good news. The story is based on the most recent drug expenditure report of the well-respected Canadian Institute for Health Information.

But dig a little deeper, and the news is not so good. Private spending on prescription drugs is rising - and the amount depends on where in Canada you live.

Bruce Carson not alone in bankruptcy

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:18:29 -0500

Bruce Carson may have been making news lately because of a so-called checkered past that included debt problems, but he's far from alone.

Carson, a political insider and a former adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is facing allegations of influence-peddling for allegedly using his influence to lobby Indian Affairs on behalf of a water company trying to sell filtration systems to reserves.

Once the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network told Harper's office about the story it was working on, Harper referred the whole matter to the RCMP, prompting heightened media and political interest.

One of the latest stories to break involved Bruce Alexander Carson's personal finances and past bankruptcy proceedings.

As numbers from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada show, he's not alone in having to go through insolvency.

Documents, links and more after the jump....

The changing scope of Canadian arms exports

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:40:07 -0500

Canadian companies are selling military components, software and technology at a rate that surpasses the sale of more traditional military exports such as ~~tanks~~ armoured personnel carriers and other military armed vehicles, according to a CBC News analysis of data from the department of Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Read the full blog and get links to the data after the jump....

UPDATED: Where are arms sales numbers, DFAIT?

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:20:35 -0500

In 2006, Canada sold about $360 million worth of arms, such as bombs torpedoes and rockets, to such countries as Chile, France and Oman. It sold aircraft and so-called "specially designed components" to Egypt.

That was then. What about now?

UPDATED: Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon tabled his department's 2007-2009 Report on Exports on Military Goods From Canada Friday afternoon. NDP critic Paul Dewar, who has been demanding the report for the past few weeks, said that while he's happy the latest report is finally public, it's a shame the government decided to table the document on a Friday afternoon just before Parliament takes a week off.

Read David McKie's story on the 2007-2009 numbers.

And after the jump, read the backstory and view maps that detail the numbers for 2003-2006. Once I've had time to read and make sense of this latest report, I'll produce an update. ...

Canada's arms sales to the Middle East

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:47:55 -0500

Canadian companies exported $21.3-million in arms to the Middle East from 2006 to the end of 2010. That figure comprises just 1.6 per cent of Canada's total arms sales for those years, but it shows that Canada is a minor player in the worldwide arms trade to the region.

Small as they may be compared to the total, what's interesting about those numbers is this question, Are countries such as Libya using these weapons against their own people?

Put another way, are Canadian companies indirectly complicit in Moammar Gadhafi's assault on his own people, an assault that now has him up for war crimes charges?

Of course, there is no way of knowing if any of the weapons being used by Gadhafi supporters came from Canada. To date, there are no YouTube moments featuring supporters carrying firearms with the words "Canada" emblazoned in large enough letters for the world to see.

But compared to other countries in the Middle East, we don't sell much in the way of arms to Libya ...

Where to draw the line on information requests?

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:25:54 -0500

When allegations surfaced from two University of Ottawa professors that someone was using access to information to spy on them, it got me thinking uncomfortable thoughts about a law that I defend as an advocate, use as a journalist and teach as an instructor.

A report Feb. 11 revealed professors Amir Attaran and Errol Mendes were the subjects of voluminous access to information requests demanding files such as expenses and teaching records.

On the surface, such a demand should not be considered newsworthy, except perhaps for the scope and volume of the requests. But what really raised eyebrows was the professors' suspicion that federal Conservatives were behind the requests, though they had no proof and the Conservative Party denied having anything to do with it. The Prime Minister's Office refused to comment on the matter.

You see, by law, the identity of requesters is supposed to remain a secret, something a spokesperson in the PMO rightly pointed out. Mendes and Attaran suspect they were targeted because they have been outspoken critics of the Conservative government and are seen by some as Liberal sympathizers. Attaran, for instance, used the Access to Information Act himself to dig up lots of material regarding Afghan detainees, an issue that many suspect moved Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament last year.

Whether the suspicion of political skullduggery should have made news is not the reason for this column. Instead, the allegations point to some of the contradictions and pitfalls inherent in a law that at worst is ill-defined and archaic, and at best, a catalyst for democracy. Indeed, these large requests have potential consequences, and not all of them good.

Here's what I mean...

Pardons not just a matter of dollars and cents

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:06:08 -0500

The reaction I've received to my story about the Parole Board of Canada's consultations on sharply increasing the fees for pardons has been swift, passionate and interesting. So I thought I'd share some of the opinions to provide a taste of what the board will hear over the next few weeks.

First off, a quick word on why people obtain pardons and why we're talking about this now....

Digging into the former Integrity Commissioner's cases

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:18:17 -0500

(Hear David McKie's story from World Report above)

While the saga of Christiane Ouimet and the public accounts committee's investigation of her time as the public sector integritycommissioner of Canada continues, some interesting numbers have emerged that may shed some light on the way that she did - or didn't do -- her job.

The committee wants to find out why the former watchdog for public sector whistleblowers never found a single case of wrongdoing during her time as the person in charge of the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada. The auditor general lambasted Ouimet's performance and suggested the office to take another look at the complaints.

The MPs on the committee would like to hear from Ouimet and there's all kinds of speculation about why that might not happen.

But we do have some numbers to pore over. The committee asked for, and obtained, a spreadsheet that breaks down each investigation by factors such as when the complaint came in, the nature of the complaint, the reason for the decision, and the decision itself - which in every case was to close the file....